Florence attorney Maurice McCaney pulled off a significant upset Tuesday night, defeating six-term incumbent State Rep. Phillip Pettus (R-Killen) in the Republican primary for Alabama House District 1.

According to unofficial returns from Lauderdale County, McCaney secured 2,907 votes (59.24%) to Pettus’s 2,000 votes (40.76%) out of 4,907 cast.

Pettus, a University of North Alabama alumnus and retired law enforcement officer, was first elected to the Alabama House in 2014 and had represented the deep-red North Alabama district for more than a decade.

He served as chairman of the House Fiscal Responsibility Committee and was a member of the Judiciary, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and Military and Veterans Affairs committees.

McCaney, a partner at Woodruff & McCaney, LLC and current President of the Lauderdale County Bar Association, campaigned as a conservative outsider and a “District One boy” pledging to bring a fresh voice to Montgomery.

A graduate of Samford University and Cumberland School of Law, McCaney is active in the Cloverdale community and the Lauderdale County Republican Executive Committee.

With no Democrat on the November ballot, McCaney is expected to take office following the general election.